Twice the Pain
by Raven Whisperer
Summary: Facing the probability that Sasuke was going to leave was hard enough but after discovering Naruto had left as well; well its hard to bear twice the pain. Three and a half years later Sakura with an all new Team 7 prepares to infiltrate Orochimaru's lair and there is only one question Sakura wants answered; "Why?" Rated T for language and violence. PLEASE (I'm begging you) R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Twice the Pain**

**Chapter #1: Understanding**

She didn't know why he left. She understood Sasuke leaving to get his revenge, but what was Naruto's angle? She had waited in the very spot she'd suspected Sasuke to show up, but he never did. In her hurry to help him, she'd ran to his house to find it empty and his picture of Team 7 flipped upside-down. Panic had flooded through her and she had gone to Naruto to report what had happened, but he'd been gone too. That night, she curled up lonely and afraid in her bedroom. That night she'd ended up crying herself to sleep and finding Kakashi's concerned, masked, face above her.

Now, here she was standing beside Yamato, staring at what Team 7 had become. She missed them both, Naruto and Sasuke, terribly and despised Orochimaru for taking them from her. Of course, Team 7 couldn't consist of simply Kakashi and herself. But Kakashi had been incapacitated when she, Granny Chiyo, Juriah, Temari, and Kankuro had set off to rescue Gaara. Therefore, he had been by replaced by Yamato, an old "friend" of his. Then, later, she had discovered that Sasuke and Naruto were to be replaced by two ANBU root members. Sai and Aoi. Both of them expressed little interest in her and rarely made conversation unless required. She remembered thinking at one point, _Even Sasuke paid more attention to me than them_. Although, she had caught them watching her quite a few times like they were studying her or something.*****

"I don't understand…" she whispered to herself. Everything had been happy and cheerful before they had left. Tension had started around the Chuunin exams and had sky rocketed due to Itachi's surprise visit, plus Sasuke's defeat with Aoi Rokusho had subtracted his ego points to the negatives. "But why _you_ Naruto…?" his disappearance had been the most unexpected of all. His life after joining Team 7 had been pretty much perfect, so why leave?

Her thoughts were jarred by a hand of her shoulder, "Sakura, its time to go." Yamato's light voice came from behind her.

"Alright, let's go…" she said stoically.

The new Team Seven gathered around the deep hold dug by Yamato's wood and stared down into the square abyss. "Who goes first?" Yamato asked.

Sai and Aoi smiled their creepy, fake smiles and said, "Ladies first." Everyone looked over at Sakura. She gave the root members a glare before jumping down into the hole. A soft thud was heard when she hit the ground. Aoi's bright blue eyes made their way to Sai, "I suggest you go next." He smiled.

Sai's smile faded, and he simply jumps in without any form of acknowledgement that if he had emotions he'd be displeased. Aoi followed him and Yamato came in last. The darkness envelopes the four of them, but just enough sunlight peered down into the hole for them to see down the route…a dead end.

Sakura turned to Yamato, "Captain Yamato, you didn't finish did you?"

Yamato sighed in annoyance, "None of you kids these days know about stealth." He folded his arms over his chest. "I couldn't simply dig all the way through while we were still outside! That would make it easier for Orochimaru to detect us. Instead, I dug most of the way and waited for all of us to be inside before finishing the infiltration."

"Good plan Yamato," a foreign voice said, "But you forgot one little thing." All eyes turned to the intruder. Light reflected off large, obnoxiously sized glasses as he spoke. "After all, isn't a stealth mission required to have the enemy unknown of their presence." He moved closer and out of the light to reveal none other than Kabuto Yakushi.

Shock enveloped Sakura and Yamato, while Sai and Aoi had similar looks of surprise, aka, nothing. "H-how did you get in here?" Sakura whispered, not believing her eyes.

Kabuto signed like finding them had been the easiest thing in the world, "You have no idea how noisy you are, especially when you're yelling at your teammates." He raised a hand to adjust his glasses and gave a devilish smile, "I bet the same would go if they were Naruto and Sasuke."

Taken off guard, Sakura gave noise of surprise, before narrowing her fierce green eyes and growling at the intruder. "If you're looking for a beating-!"

"Sakura!" Yamato shushed her. "There isn't enough room in here for a fight let alone your anger. Besides, we can always take him captive…" Yamato mimicked Kabuto's smile, making him flinch slightly at being used as a hostage.

"Tch.' Kabuto mocked, "Lord Orochimaru would never give you what you're looking for in exchange for me." Suddenly, he was gone, shooting back up from the hole.

"We can't let him escape! He'll alert Orochimaru of our presence!" Yamato took after him, but reached the opening too late. Kabuto was gone and was surely on his way to tattle to Orochimaru. He climbed back down and addressed his team, "We don't have time for this. We need to get in now and find those two before it's too late." The three nodded in response. "Sakura, you know what to do."

"But I thought we were going for stealth?" she questioned.

"Not anymore, there isn't time." He responded.

She nodded and charged chakra to her fist. From inside her gloves, a pale blue light began to form before Sakura gave her battle cry and completely shattered the wall before them. A large bead of sweat ran down everyone's temple as they were thinking; _Remind me not to get on the other side of those punches_.

Sakura turned and gave a confused look, "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." Yamato denied. Sakura simply shrugged and made her way inside.

Kabuto walked quickly through the halls, he had to warn Orochimaru, but first, he needed to make sure Naruto and Sasuke were deep enough into the hideout that the squad on the other side would give up long before finding them. He knew the two would either be in separate rooms across the hallway, or bickering inside one. _If I'm lucky maybe they'll have knocked one another out_, Kabuto thought.

He came up the familiar hallway that had one torch less than rest on its left side. He moved quickly, picking up speed and checked the room Sasuke usually spent his time in. The room was sparse of any signs of life, other than the wrinkled sheets, but that was it. He could hear the faint sound of running water in the distance of the room. _Good, he's in the shower; he'll be there for awhile due to his sore muscles_.*****

Kabuto checked for any disturbance in the far halls, but saw nothing and made his way across the hall to the room Naruto preferred. The room was total pig sty, to put it simply. The sheets on the bed were ruffled and sticking every which way, the nightstand drawers were open in various lengths, different things spilling from them –things such as underwear, weapons, writing paper, and instant ramen- and worst of all the millions of containers that littered the floor of empty instant ramen. _That pig_. Kabuto muttered to himself. Sometimes he questioned Orochimaru's decision to take in the kid. After all, he wouldn't be as easy to manipulate as Sasuke, since the one thing Sasuke wanted most was almost unattainable, it was almost too easy to threaten him with it.

The idiot known as Naruto was fast asleep in his bed, snoring louder than hell and sleeping in the strangest of positions. Although, thankfully, he bothered to wear his pajamas this time and not sleep in his training clothes.***** _One the bright side_, Kabuto thought leaving, _when he's out, he's out._ He shut the door behind him quietly, not wanting to risk the sleeping idiot.

He hurried and made his way to Orochimaru's chamber, not wanting to waste a second in the halls. The door was closed tight as always, but that didn't stop him from feeling there was something wrong. He hurriedly pushed open the door and quickly shut it behind him, "Lord Orochimaru-!"

"I already know Kabuto. They're inside already, make sure they stay away from Sasuke and Naruto, we don't want them getting too excited now do we?" Orochimaru said with hidden blades between his last words.

"Y-yes my Lord." Kabuto replied before running hurrying out the door into the corridor. He had to stop them! Orochimaru's trust as dwindling on it. Ever since he was unable to complete his task at taking out Yamato on Tenshi Bridge (earlier that day) Orochimaru seemed to lacking in giving him responsibility. He hurried quickly back to way he'd come, he had to diverge them, but how?

"From here, we should break up into to two teams. Aoi and Sai as one, Sakura and I the other. As soon as any of you find either Naruto or Sasuke, activate your chakra so I can find you. The seeds I had you swallow earlier will help me. Does everyone have the plan?" Yamato studied Sakura's steely expression and then turned to Sai and Aoi who simply gave their creepy smiles. "Alright," he began, "dispatch!" the two teams broke up and took off towards the two ends of the hall.

Aoi and Sai checked each door, dropping their "happy" façade before doing so. Each door they opening in the hall were empty, but also fully furnished, like Orochimaru was expecting thousands of people to randomly come by and ask for a room. Unfortunately for him, it appeared none did.

The duo continued on the hall, opening every door and ignoring the contents, from the way they just opened the door for literally a second and closed it, they could have past the ninja they were looking for!***** But after all, they didn't really care for Naruto and Sasuke; they just came to kill them.

Foot steps rebounded off the empty halls as the duo ran fast, only slowing down to open and close doors. So far their efforts were fruitless. Each room proved to be empty, but also fully furnished, like a hotel room for criminals that worked with Orochimaru.

"Captain Yamato, I think it's safe to say this hallway is empty." Sakura declared after closing the eighth door down a twelve door halls.

He nodded in agreement, "I think you're right, let's move onto the next, we're obviously not going to find anything here." She followed him through the empty halls that had nothing but the strange, hypnotic design that confused a pursuer. If you stared at them long enough it seemed the walls were moving like the waves of the ocean, and Sakura couldn't help but wonder then if a Naruto and Sasuke ever watched these walls to lull them to sleep.

Suddenly, an explosion of smoke came from their right, knocking the duo to the side. Both gave a gasp of surprise before skidding across the uneven stone. "It seems you recovered from my visit faster than I had intended." Kabuto stepped from the smoke, kuni in hand, attached to a paper bomb. "I guess I'll have to take you out here and now." He raised his arm to fling the weapon at them when Yamato shouted to Sakura

"Hurry! Go find Naruto and Sasuke!"

"Right!" she responded jumping up and making a break for the end of the hall. Yamato got up as well, just in time to deflect the weapon being flung at him.

"Not so fast!" Kabuto shouted, making a break for the girl.

"Where are you going?" Yamato intervened, blocking Kabuto from getting away. "I'm right here!" he brought his own weapon down to attack.

Immediately, Kabuto maneuvered back, narrowly missing the kuni's blade. Shreds of his gray hair flew into the air.

**End Chapter #1: Understanding**

**AN/: * ****They are watching her due to suspicion, they feel nothing for her.**

***Orochimaru practically drills Sasuke to the bone with training, so it's a given he's gonna be sore. Also, the comment about switching rooms simply means that he likes to wander from room to room along that particular hallway.**

*** Because we all know Naruto is a lazy bum, he sometimes falls asleep in his training clothes rather than bother with his pajamas, or other times he'll just fall down on the floor half-naked. **

***** **For some people This is incredibly unnecessary, but some might not get it. By that phrase I used there I meant that they were moving so fast down that halls, that at their speed it seemed it was impossible to even see in them.**

**Hey there, this is**** IMPORTANT ****if you want to continue reading the story! I just wanted to point out without a random flashback about Aoi's special ability. His ability is to be able to combine with his own shadow, allowing his to sneak around anywhere he pleases as long as he can see his shadow. I may sound very similar to the Nara clan's Shower Possession, but I can vow it isn't. Also, Aoi has the ability to trap other people in their shadows too, with of course the option of releasing them and dragging their shadow where ever he pleases.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Twice the Pain**

**Chapter #2: Meeting**

A soft groan escaped the sleeping shinobi's lips as he pushed himself up. Sleep clung to him as he tried to evaluate where he was. The messy sheets and blooming plants hit him hard. He was in his room! Naruto face palmed himself for being an idiot. After all, he'd been in this room for about 3 ½ years! He should be able to recognize his own room! But, it just never felt like home. He would spend his time sleeping, trying to dream away the reality he put himself in and try to forget the familiar faces of his past. No matter, seeing Sasuke's face was enough for him to remember Sakura, Kakashi, and everyone else. The happy memories that now plagued his dreams with pain.

Shaking his head, Naruto cleared his head of his memories. He didn't want to remember why he was here and how much he missed the others. He rolled around on his bed to find the end to get off, but instead completely tangled himself in his sheets and rolled off onto the floor. He held back a grunt of pain as he struggled to unwrap himself within the sheets.

Eventually, he ripped them off his body and got up. The sound of running water caught his ears. _So, Sasuke's done with training, huh?_ He went into his bathroom and looked himself over. He was a mess to say simply. His pajamas were a wrinkled mess; any neat freak's worse nightmare! His hair was disheveled and lagging down. "I should probably take a shower too…" he thought out loud before stripping for his shower.

Footsteps. Those were only sounds Sakura heard as she ran straight a head, making sure to pass the walls empty of doors. Once and a while she would slow to throw open a door only to find nothing, but she couldn't let disappointment stop her from running. Just as Yamato had instructed her. She had to press on and find Naruto and Sasuke. That was the only thing that mattered at the moment.

She continued to press on, picking up a little bit of speed she turned a sharp corner. Both walls this time were covered in doors. Surprise stopped her in her tracks. This would take awhile, considering the length of the hall. She sighed as she began to search from door to door.

Suddenly, footsteps other than her own sounded behind her. Panic surged through her body and she ran into the first room in front of her.

Hot water endlessly pelted Sasuke's skin as he allowed the water to relax his tense muscles. He didn't know how long he'd been standing in the water, after all, he always lost track of time when he just wanted to relax in the burning heat of the water. Out of habits, he closed his eyes in the bliss of the moment.

Slowly, he reached his arm out to grab the glass container holding his shampoo, only to grab empty air. His eyes snapped open and glared at the spot the fragile container should be, "Naruto…" he growled under his breath. That idiot took his shampoo _again_?! This had to stop. His excuse for using it all up and "borrowing" his was done. "I'll ring that idiot's neck…" he snarled.

Sasuke shoved aside the shower curtain and proceeded to rap a towel around his waist before storming into his room only to stop dead in his tracks…

A growl of annoyance escaped Kabuto's lips as Yamato proceeded to continue to frontal attacks. His kunai sliced through the air with the precision and grace of a skilled shinobi. He spun on his heal and brought his knife down again. Kabuto twisted his body to avoid the hit, but miscalculated and got sliced on his side. He maneuvered his body into a defensive position and held his bleeding wound.

Yamato reached for a fist full of shuriken and launched them at the wounded enemy. He moved the side to avoid them, but felt a sharp hit to the back of his neck. Sleep clouded his mind and forced him to fall, his body leaving a soft thud as he dozed.

The gentle sigh escaped the ex-anbu's lips. "That was close." He looked over at the clone he had made earlier to take out Kabuto. He gave him a nod of recognition before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Now to find Sakura." He mumbled.

Another door was closed as the two root members sighed. Their efforts were turning out to be completely fruitless so far. Each door was empty of life, and twice they had fallen into a trap. Just ask Aoi. He had taken both the attacks head on, by unfortunate luck of the draw. The two had decided on taking turns for who would open the door for each hallway, and you can tell how well that worked for Aoi thanks to his charred hair and burn marks decorating his face.

"Maybe they're not on this side of the hideout." Aoi thought out loud as he closed another door.

Sai shook his head and responded, "No, we must search every inch of Orochimaru's hideout. They could be anywhere."

If Aoi had emotions, then he would have probably complained about searching, but being the disciplined, emotionless, weirdo that he was, he continued to help Sai search.

Naruto switched off the water as he began to step out. "Man, it feels good to take a nice shower!" he shouted to himself before tugging on his pants. He noticed then, that the soft hum of running water was _still_ going on in Sasuke's room. "That's guy's been in the shower too long. He's gonna be such a prune." Naruto smiled to himself, wanting to catch the almost flawless Uchiha covered in wrinkles.

He snuck across the hall, checking to make sure no one would give him away before sneaking inside. What he saw inside made his jaw drop. "Sa…Sa…" he gulped, tears brimming his eyes in joy, "Sakura…" he whispered. There, in front of him, was one of the two people he missed out of everyone. Her shining green eyes turned to him taking in his appearance. It seemed to hit him then that he was standing in front of his childhood crush, without a shirt. Blood rushed to his cheeks, then he took in the sight _behind_ Sakura.

There was Sasuke, just in a towel, watching them. "Well, Naruto." He addressed him. "Just the person I was looking for." He walked by Sakura, not even sparing the overjoyed and pained girl a glance. "Where is it." He demanded.

The demand was random for both Naruto and Sakura. _What's he…what's he talking about…?_ Suspense filled the small room as Sakura thought of countless possibilities. Slowly, she moved a hand back to the kunai in her bag. Taking great care not to make a sound while doing so, she slipped the knife out and held it behind her back.

Naruto took his eyes off the teammate he'd abandoned and addressed Sasuke, "What are you talking about?" he growled. Naruto's tone sent a shiver down Sakura's spine. _Never_ had she been around when he used such a dangerous tone.

Sasuke took a large step forward, practically dissolving the space between the teens, "I'll say it again, where is it?" he demanded. Sasuke's coal eyes narrowed down into a glare that inspired the quote, "…if looks could kill…" Another violent shiver ran down Sakura's spine. _Is it just me, or are they getting ready to kill each other…?_ It also hit her then that they were almost the same height; Naruto was just a few centimeters shorter.

"And I'll say it again," Naruto growled, shoving his face in his, "I don't know what you're talking about." He also narrowed his blue eyes to a dangerous level.

Taking caution, Sakura took a few steps back, horrified at the possibility she might get caught in their hellfire. The possibility that their strength had increased far beyond when they had still been part Konoha made goose bumps pop up on her exposed arms. Hell, they could probably take her out by accident with one of their milder jutsu! Unconsciously, she gulped. For some reason, Naruto suddenly turned his head in her direction, eyes cured of rage. Sakura mentally slapped herself for not thinking they wouldn't have enhanced senses! After all, they did train with Orochimaru.

The blonde haired numbskull stepped away from Sasuke, surprising him, and turned his attention to his fearful teammate, "Sakura? Are you alright?" he made his way to the teammate he had abandoned. "You aren't sick, are you?" he asked, mistaking the blood rushing to her face as a sign of a fever.

This was so Naruto, Sakura almost wanted to just laugh it all and call this a nightmare, but she was done telling herself that. Instead she settled for nervous laughter, and allowed her muscles to relax. Big mistake. The knife in her hand slipped from her reach, and before she grab hold of it, another pair of hands had it. Sakura's breath froze in her throat. Slowly, she lifted her bright green eyes up the pale arm to an all too familiar face. "S-Sasuke…?" said person narrowed his eyes at the speechless kunoichi.

He pointed the blade of the knife at the underside of her chin, "And what exactly were you planning to do with this?" he questioned, tilting his head to the side in way that demanded on answer. Sakura tried to reply, but he jabbed the kunai slightly into her skin. "You were sent here as an assassin weren't you? And don't lie to me Sakura, I can see right through you."

Sakura gulped against the blade of the knife. It dug in her skin slightly, but her rare use of the weapon made the blade's edge dull. "This is a misunderstanding, you see-!" Naruto's hurt look suddenly processed to her, he thought she was going to kill them?! They were idiots! "Naruto, look-." Her tone implied annoyance, but not nearly as annoyed as she was to see her unresponsive teammates trying to sneak in. The dark outlines of Aoi and Sai's shadow on the floor stood out considerably and went unnoticed due to Sasuke and Naruto's attention on her. Anger bubbled up within her, "You idiots!" she yelled at the shadows. Both Sasuke and Naruto stared at her in surprise, what was that about? She suddenly shoved the knife Sasuke had under her chin away and pushed past both of the ones she'd die for aside to confront the two ANBU. Seeing as their cover was blown, Aoi was in the middle of returning them to normal when she grabbed them by their barely materialized shirt collars. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" She screamed completely infuriated.

Both Naruto and Sasuke watched with amusement as she continued to yell and scream at their replacements… "Replacements…" Naruto mumbled under his breath. Never did he think he would be replaced, Sasuke on the other hand continuously warned him to be prepared for the fact that most likely the hokage had put two other people on Team Seven so they could continue going missions. "I wonder which one's mine…" he murmured. He tried to mask his hurt from himself by pondering what their live in Konoha with Sakura was. And then he felt a stab of jealousy; that should bed him there getting yelled at by Sakura!

"Idiot." Sasuke huffed under his breath at the wondering jinchuriki who seemed to not even be thinking about the situation at hand, but rather personal business which he could deal with later.

Naruto turned from Sakura's comedic screaming to Sasuke, "And what's that supposed to mean?" he challenged.

"It means," he stated without looking away from Sakura, "that you're an idiot for wanting to know who your replacement is."

Naruto _humphed_ in reply before adding under his breath, "I bet you want to know who you replacement is…" Sasuke's brow twitched in annoyance and he looked off at the far wall, his response was as clear as day to Naruto; he wanted to know too.

Suddenly, Sakura's screaming stopped. Both rouge shinobi turned to see that both of her new teammates had a hand clamped over her mouth and a hand holding her arms behind her back. "Sakura, do you realize what kind of situation you're in?" Sai hissed into her ear, "You're in a room with _two_ dangerous criminals and enemies to Konoha."

"Were you trying to get yourself killed?" Aoi suddenly hissed in her other ear.

Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously low. She broke herself free from their grip and gave both of them a hard punch to the face, "I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL BOTH OF YOU! JUST WHO THE _HELL_ SAID SASUKE AND NARUTO WERE OUR ENEMIES?!" she screamed, far louder than either side thought was possible. She huffed from all the oxygen she had used and took a step backward towards Naruto and Sasuke. "I don't care what twisted ass told you Naruto and Sasuke were just another duo of rouge shinobi to be eliminated, but even our _hokage_ doesn't see them that way! So just drop it okay!" she huffed a little more from yelling so much, but it was needed to get the point across to those two stubborn replacements.

The two rouge shinobi looked at their ex-teammate in surprise. She was _defending_ them? After all this time, and all the hurt they had put her through? There had to some mistake! She should hate them for what they did to her, she should be yelling and screaming at them like she just did with their replacements! "Sakura…" Naruto started, but was interrupted by the red haired replacement.

"Sakura," his tone was low and threatening, well for someone without emotions, "I suggest you step away. Things are about to get ugly in here, and if you continue to defend and resist us, you will be named a traitor." His lifeless blue eye narrowed into what he assumed was a threatening position.

For a moment, the kunoichi bowed her head and stepped toward her teammates. She made no sounds as she drew closer, much to Naruto's dismay and surprise. Sakura stopped her movements when she was between the two ANBU. Silence filled the room and tension began to build, Naruto's heart beat a little faster as he was anxious to know the outcome. Slowly she raised her head and stared off into nothing as she spoke, "Then you can go to hell for all I care." She lashed out then and brought her heeled boot down onto the back of Sai's head. Both Anbu were too surprised as her fake surrender to react quickly, and before Aoi knew it, she had him out cold.

Surprise covered the rouge ninjas faces; well, the Uchiha's for a mere moment. They hadn't expected her to be so strong, let alone take out two of her teammates –which they assumed had to be strong to be on Team Kakashi - with minimal movements. She looked back at the two that had abandoned her and asked "What?" they turned to one another and back to Sakura.

"Holy crap." Was Naruto's only response. And Sasuke just gave a blank stare. Even though they had to be over two hundred times more powerful than she was, it was still amazing to see their teammate who had been labeled useless strong enough to take out her allies for their sake.

"Well, now that we have these nuisances out of the way," Sakura turned her eyes on Naruto, "I need to know something." She took a few steps away from her fallen teammates and locked eyes with Naruto, "Why did you leave me?" She fought to hold back the emotions that bit at her and wanted her to cry but she resisted futilely and tears sprung up in her eyes, tears she never wanted to shed again, "Why did you abandon Konoha?"

Naruto let out a long breath, that he hadn't realized he been holding. "Sakura, it's not what you think-…!"

"I didn't know what to think!" she screamed at him. "You and Sasuke, up and disappearing in the middle of the night without a word to Kakashi-sensei or me? I get why Sasuke had left, but _you_?! Do you have any idea how broken I was without you two?" the rage that had surfaced, burned away to the sorrow that had been eating away at her heart. She couldn't hold back anymore and let herself break. She let out every sour emotion through her tears and let herself crumble to the floor like she would do for countless nights. "Do you have any idea…" she whimpered through tears, "how much pain you put all of us through…?"

The blonde sunk down next to her, afraid that touching her in her fragile state would cause her to break apart into glass, forever encasing her sorrow. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around his former crush and let her break in his warmth. He knew how alone she must have felt for the three years they were gone, and that made him angry at himself, and at Sasuke. If it wasn't for his obsession for revenge, this would have never happened. If he had stayed and learned in the village, Sakura wouldn't be here, broken, crying, and lonely in the den of Orochimaru. "For him…" Naruto whispered.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto in surprise. He'd been trying to ignore the scene, but Naruto's sudden answer made him curious.

Sakura looked up from the comfort of Naruto's shoulder and whispered, "What…?"

Naruto gave a nervous smile, "I left so that bastard over there didn't go off and do something stupid after he got his revenge." His smile grew genuine and full then, "Plus, I have to make sure I stay stronger that chicken butt haired emo!" the crying girl couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's childish ways of describing Sasuke, while said person only _humped_ and looked away. "We'll come back, I swear." He promised. With that, Sasuke pushed away his pride for a moment and let the natural feelings of wanting a friend to feel better take over, he leaned over and whispered, "And things will go back to the way they were." With that he hit the pressure point behind her neck and let her drift off into the icy black that no longer seemed so cold with the warm promise of hope that they would return.

It was official, Yamato was lost. He looked all around this damned hideout and he still couldn't find a trace of Sakura or those two annoying ANBU. "Damn it all." He swore under his breath as he found their entry spot. Again.

Out of the shadows, two figures emerged. Yamato instantly drew a kunai, fearing the duo was Orochimaru and Kabuto, only to be surprised at seeing… "Naruto? Sasuke?" his eyebrows drew together at seeing their targets holding Sakura and carrying both Sai and Aoi.

Sasuke dropped the two ANBU in front of him while Naruto gestured for Yamato to take Sakura. "Make sure she gets home safe," he warned, "or we'll make sure you never make that mistake again." The duo turned to leave the stunned Yamato when another voice piped in, "And, we don't care what happens to the other two." Sasuke smirked before practically disappearing into the shadows along with Naruto.

**Chapter #2 Understanding: End**

**Twice the Pain: End**

**AN/: So that's the end, please review, I wanna know what you think!**


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